The current evolution in electronic devices has made it possible to manufacture utility usage metering systems that store and transmit customer utility usage to a hand-held reader or to a remote data gathering system. These systems generally consist of a some form of mechanical register which meters the actual utility usage coupled to an electronic transponder or a combination electronic register and transponder that sends the utility usage data contained within the register to a reader or remote data gathering system. Utility companies that supply gas, water and electricity have been using a combination of hand-held readers (carried from point to point by a meter-reader), transportable readers (carried in a truck and using radio frequency signals) and remote data gathering systems (transmitted over telephone lines or the like) to record utility usage by commercial customers.
A myriad of manufactures currently produce these utility metering systems with no regard to a standardized usage signal. For example, in the area of water meters, there are two major suppliers mechanical meters and associated electronic transponders and approximately four minor suppliers of mechanical meters which use one of three types of combination electronic register and transponder manufactured by independent minor suppliers. This means that there are at least five different electronic signals, or protocols, which indicate water utility usage none of which are compatible with each other. In reality there are more non-compatible systems, if one includes foreign manufactures and other small domestic manufactures. Looking at the utility metering industry as a whole, one must include electricity and gas meters. These metering systems also have their own data communication protocol.
The problem with non-compatible protocols becomes most acute in water utilities because most of these utility systems are owned by local governments. Thus, once a utility system decides to go to an electronic metering system, that utility system is restricted to a single supplier. Governmental entities do not like to be restricted to a single supplier as improprieties could exist or be suspected by local citizens. For a private utility system, such as a "publicly or privately" held electric or gas company, the single supplier syndrome is not present; however, it would be better for the utility company to have a choice of meter/transponder/reader systems.
Finally, with the age of the "information super highway" incompatible protocols will make the procedure of linking utility usage systems almost impossible. One simple answer would be for the industry as a whole to devise an industry wide standard similar to the American Standard for Computer Information Interchange (ASCII) used by the computer industry. This will probably happen in the near future, but the cost of retrofitting existing utility usage meters and transponders with compatible transponders will be prohibitively high.
The utility supply industry is actively looking for an approach to "second source" suppliers of meter/transponder/reader systems. Metropolitan (city owned) water systems have demanded that the meter industry provide a means for alternate manufactures to supply devices that can be read or can read existing devices. Some cross licensing between major suppliers has occurred and the market is producing meter reader devices that will read another manufacturer's device; however, the market is not producing a device that will store utility usage and universally respond and transmit data to any manufacture's reader or remote data gathering system.
The instant invention provides a device that will gather water utility usage from a mechanical meter, respond, and transmit a protocol that can be universally read. The device can be installed with new meters or can be easily retrofitted to existing meters. The device therefore satisfies the "second source" requirement. Further, the device can readily be modified to operate in conjunction with any type of mechanically based utility usage meter such as used to meter oil, gas, electricity, steam, etc.